It's good to see you all. I hope I can remember to keep this all in English today. My notes are in Spanish. When I was young, it was real easy. I could use Spanish notes and preach English, or English notes, preach Spanish, and never think about it at all. It's not as easy now. Some things have changed, but my notes are in Spanish, so I'll try not to get distracted. Open with me please to Job chapter 26. The title today is Majesty Beyond Comprehension. The book of Job is one that really fascinates me. I love to study it. I've preached from Job here before, and you know that in the first two chapters, Job starts out well, and then after that, he takes a big stumble, very serious stumble. But then God, in His grace, lifts him, and we see a turn, and he recovers. his equilibrium and gets back on his feet and there's a restoration there, still some confusion going on, but it's a totally different mindset once he makes that turn. And this chapter 26 is in that part of the book where he is now, he's in his right mind, we might say. And so there's some real jewels to be found in this section of the book. But all of it is, or most of the book is a series of discussions, debates between him and these friends of his who are not good counselors at all. And so he's answering them. And in the course of these discussions, there's a lot of comparing what God is with what man is. And so they compare, they contrast, they show the difference between the two. And Bildad has just done that in chapter 25. He's talking about the great disparity that there is, this difference between God and man. And Job follows that same line of thinking when we get to chapter 26. He is keeping in mind the larger context where they've already been speaking of God and how different he is from man. And so that is behind what he says in these first verses. And we have to remember that he is setting forth this contrast, this distinction between the two. And really what Job emphasizes for Bildad and for us in this chapter right here is that God is much, much greater than we're able to comprehend. There is in our Lord, our God, majesty beyond comprehension. Bildad has talked about the difference and Job was telling him, you haven't begun to imagine the difference that there is. And so what he's gonna do for us in this chapter is set forth some glorious attributes of God to show how different God is, and some glorious works of God to show how different God is. So let's start here in chapter 26. And read verses one and two. In these first two verses, Job will remind us of the majestic power of God. Job 26, one and two, but God answered and said, or Job answered and said, how hast thou, you, Bildad, how have you helped him that is without power? And how savest thou the arm that hath no strength? How have you helped, Bildad, How have you saved? How have you supported, aided me? And how does Job describe himself? No power, no strength. That is how Job describes himself here. And remember, he is making this contrast. This is already in his mindset as he is stating these things. He confesses that He is without power, He is without strength. Now, throughout the book, over and over, they have referred to God and they have used a very special name of God. Look back in Job 22. Job 22 and verse 17. He says there, which said unto God, depart from us. And what can the Almighty do for them? What's God called there? The Almighty, all powerful. Verse 23, if thou return to the Almighty, verse 25, yea, the Almighty, shall be thy defense. Verse 26, for then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty. See, they're using the same name over and over. Look at 23, verses 13 to 16, but He, that is God, is in one mind, and who can turn him? He says you can't turn God when he's carrying out his purposes. And what his soul desireth, even that he doeth, for he performeth the thing that is appointed for me. He's carried out his plans for my life. And many such things are with him, therefore I'm troubled. You know, not all of his plans for our life are what we would prefer. And so he says, I'm troubled. I know he has that sort of plans. And when I consider it, I'm afraid of him. He is admitting God is sovereign, but he doesn't take great comfort in God's sovereignty at this point. But then he says in verse 16, and God maketh my heart soft and the almighty troubleth me. So there again, he says, calls him the almighty in 24 one. Why? See, times are not hidden from the almighty. Well, we see the name that they're using over and over. And what has Job just said here in chapter 26? Who am I? I have no strength. I have no power. Who is God? He is the Almighty. Now, Job was making a point about Bildad and his other friends, these other counselors. He says, how have you helped him that is without power? Now, they thought themselves to be really wise and strong guys. What does Job say? He says, I don't have any power. And you don't have enough power to help him that has none. Now, you would think if you have just a little bit, you can help somebody who has none, right? That's what Joe was saying. He says, you don't have the power to help me and I have none. In other words, you have no more than I do. You likewise are without power. But who is God? He's the only one who can help us because he is the almighty. So he is reminding them how weak we are before God, who is almighty. So he's reminding us of the. Majestic power of God. and what we are before Him. Then we look at verses 3 and 4, and he reminds us of the majestic wisdom of God. knowledge of God. Now that majestic power, what do we usually call that? Omnipotence, isn't that the attribute we call that? And here with the majestic wisdom of God, that's omniscience, there's the attribute that we call that. And he follows the same pattern and he says, verse three there, how has thou counseled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is? Now what does he say regarding himself? No wisdom. No knowledge. What do I know? He's admitting, he's confessing before God I'm ignorant. Have you plentifully declared anything? Have you given a fullness of knowledge of anything in what you have spoken unto me? Again, he's still showing this great inequality of himself before God. I have no knowledge. I have small, little wisdom or knowledge. And back in 21, 22, They had made this statement, shall any teach God knowledge? That's a rhetorical question. Shall any teach God knowledge, saying he judgeth those that are high? His knowledge is above even the highest of the high, he's saying. What do we know he's saying? Shall any teach God knowledge? In other words, he knows all things. He is omniscient. He has unlimited wisdom. So here I am, I don't know anything relatively before God. And God, what is he? He is omniscient. And the question is, how have you counseled him that has no wisdom? Now that brings us back to the same place. I have no knowledge, no wisdom, no intelligence, and Your counsel has not increased me, has not helped me, has not improved my knowledge at all. In other words, you have no more than I do. You have not counseled me, you have not helped me. Only God has the knowledge that we need to know. because we know nothing. And he says in verse four, to whom hast thou uttered words? And he's reminding, who are you talking to? Well, to me, Job, the one who doesn't know anything. And so you should be able to help him, right? You're full of knowledge. And whose spirit came from thee? Well, it wasn't from God, if your knowledge is so little that you can't help the guy who doesn't know anything. That's what he's telling him. Who is the one who can teach us wisdom, knowledge? He reminds us that before God, we know nothing. He is the one who is all-knowing. He is the one who is omniscient. He's the only one who has the knowledge that's able to give us what we need. You haven't given me anything, Job says. Then we come to verses five and six. And here Job reminds us of the majestic presence, omnipresence of God. Here we start getting into some of the difficult Hebrew and Hebrew translation to English and cultural idioms that we may not use equivalently in English that they did use at that time there. He says, dead things are formed from under the waters. This is verse five. There are several things I need to point out here in this. When he's talking about under the waters, he's speaking of the lowest place, the deepest spot that exists on the earth. I mean, we know of some trenches that are, I don't know how many miles deep. Some of you probably know a lot better than I do on some of those things. And Bildad had just said up in verse two of chapter 25, he says, dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in the high places. That was Bildad's comment. God is ruling, he is reigning, he's controlling all things up in the high places. And so Job was saying, you know what? He's not only controlling all things up in the high places, heaven, glory, angels. No, he's right here in the very deepest places, the depths that we can't even see here on the face of the earth. He's in all places. And when he says dead things, that was a word for shadows. that they used to refer to the dead, the spirits of the dead. It was allegorical or an idiomatic expression that they used in that time and region of the world. It says dead things or those shadows, those spirits are formed and that word formed generally means tremble. In other words, they're trembling before God who is present when they are at the most distant place that they could possibly be. And that's part of our expression that we think of the dead descending. Well, I don't know that there's actually a down to get to the place of the dead, but that's the expression we use, isn't there? And he says they, are formed, they tremble in the very depths, the most distant places and the inhabitants thereof. So he's speaking of the dead and how far they are from our existence. And yet those great distances do not separate God from them or them from God. He is present. Like he says over in Psalm 139 in verse eight, I'll turn over there and read that if they don't get to it before. up on the screen before I do. 139 in verse 8, if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there, and if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. There he is. God is present. He's present everywhere. Is God present in hell? Well, yeah, he is. He's only manifesting his attribute of wrath, not love, not kindness, but God is present there. From the height to the depths, God is present wherever we can imagine existence. Distance does not separate us from God. And in verse six he says, hell is naked, that's Sheol, hell is naked before him. Sheol, the place of the dead. It's naked, it's uncovered before him. And destruction, abeddon, that is the place of destruction. I almost went to Spanish. That's the place of eternal chastisement. Well, that's uncovered, it's present in the eyes of God, and that reminds us, doesn't it, very immediately of Hebrews 4.13. Hebrews 4.13. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Yeah, nothing hidden from God. God's present and he sees it all. And so what Job was stating here in these two verses five and six, that there's no distance that can separate us, the depths, the heights, and spirits tremble before God in the places that are hidden from our view, but they're uncovered, they're naked to the eyes of God. He's present there, he sees it all. So he's reminding us of the omnipresence, that majestic presence of God, which is everywhere. So there's three attributes, the omnipotence, the omniscience, the omnipresence of God that he's reminded us of in those verses. And then when we come to this section beginning at verse seven down to the end, he speaks about the majestic creation of God. He's reminding us of the wisdom and the power that God displayed in creation. Beginning of verse seven, he stretcheth out the north over the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing. Now it would be a mistake to think that Job understood all the discoveries of science and astronomy. He didn't have the telescopes that we have and didn't know everything of modern science, but you know, they knew an awful lot. And he uses some expressions here that are quite interesting. He talks about the North. He's stretching out the North and in most of these verses here, he's speaking of the skies, the heavens and the stars. Remember, they lived in the day when they didn't have the artificial light. Now, has everybody here, maybe not, been out somewhere in the country where you have no artificial light and then you look up and see what the sky really looks like? It's amazing, isn't it? Well, they lived with that every day. They didn't have that artificial light. So they saw the glories of the heavens And they could look up and realize that, well, the stars are moving in a circular pattern in the heavens. There's movement across the sky, right? Well, if we're gonna go east to west. But if you look north, you can see that they're actually moving in a pretty tight circle right there around that area. There's the north. right there, and the sky is circling. That is the North, and it's circling around that pretty narrow place. Now, in the center of that, we have almost, not quite dead center, but real close to the center of that, we have Polaris, right? That's the North Star. But you know, the Earth, as it rotates, It doesn't rotate perfectly. You've seen the top when it's starting to lose its rotation and it starts balancing side to side. Well, the Earth does not rotate in a perfect circle. It has a little bit of a wobble. And so as the millennia roll by, what is actually the North Star moves and another star will move into that area. And sometimes there's not anything right there in the middle of that circle where the skies are circling in the north. And he could look and see that he stretches out, and so he's picturing the north of this earth, this planet that we're living on, as it's stretching out, and it stretches out to the north, and it's, that word stretches, it means, it almost has the idea of, the earth is inclined and it's leaning and resting on something. Because you would think that there's something holding it there. If it's spinning around something, there's something holding it there. Well, he says he stretches out the north over the, what? It's an empty place. Cultures. have had ideas, if they've given any thought to it, they think, well, there must be something that is holding the earth in place. And they've had the story of Atlas holding the earth, and they've had the story of an ox holding up the earth, and different ideas, and different cultures, and different ages. And Job has a little bit different idea. If there's anything that the earth is attached to and it's holding on to, he says it's the empty place. There's nothing there. In other words, what is holding the earth where it is? What is it attached to? What is it hanging from? Just the will of God, that's all it is. There's nothing there. Obviously, there must be something there, but it's just the word and the will of God. And he sees that. The empty place. There's no physical support. There's no angel or ox or anything else. And then he says in verse eight, now all of these verses he's talking about the might, the miracles of God's creation. So he's already begun talking about the heavens and he's still looking up, although it's not to where the stars are, but in verse eight, he binds up the waters in his thick clouds. We know a lot about the waters and the clouds here in Oklahoma, don't we? I mean, we see the rain and we see the drought. And he holds up the waters. He binds up the waters in his thick clouds. You know, just, that's a miracle in itself. How do you keep water up in the air? We look up at the clouds and we know that is water in the air, but what keeps it there? Just the will of God. Now there may be laws of nature and laws of physics and all those things, but who wrote the laws? It was God. And he's the one who holds the water up in the air. And whenever, He says, let it fall, it falls, and sometimes powerfully so, doesn't it? We can't sustain water in the air, even though the clouds are doing it continually. He binds up the waters and it's the clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them, except when he says it's time. Let the waters fall. And then in verse nine, he's still looking up the might of creation, And he says, he holds back the face of his throne and spread his cloud upon it. So he's still thinking about clouds moving across the sky. And when he says his throne, this is another one of those idiomatic expressions that they used in that time and place. And that was a reference to the moon. They call the moon the throne of God. And when it pleases God, he sends the clouds and they blot out the moon. or if it pleases him, he moves the clouds and the moon is clear to be seen. So he moves the clouds where he wills. He causes the water to be sustained when he wills and to fall when he wills and so there is drought or there's floods or there's the blessing of rain that nourishes the soil. But all of that according to his power and his wisdom, Job is saying. Then we get down to verse 10, He hath compassed, now you think of a compass, you think of a circle. He has compassed the waters with bounds until the day and night come to an end. The ones who have understood this or who have studied this are pretty much in agreement that looking at the compass here, he's focusing on the horizon. At the coast, you can stand and you can look as far as you can see and you see the horizon. And so there's that line out there in the distance. And the water doesn't fall off when it reaches the horizon, does it? He is controlling the water. There's a limit out there that he has set. And right here at the sand of the beach, there's a limit that he has set too. And it's a pretty special occasion if it moves very much beyond just a little narrow area right there. He has compassed the waters with bounds. And so the ocean has its limits that are set by God, and He has compassed the waters with balance until the day and night come to an end. And so where does the day and night come to an end? Where does the light begin every day? At the horizon. And where does the light end every day? At the other horizon. Where does the night begin? At the horizon. Where does it end? The night ends at the horizon likewise. And so God has set the horizon and its limits for the waters, its limits for the light, and God is the one who has created that. It's all in his creation and in his control. And then in verse 11, he's looking up still. The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof." The pillars of heaven. You know, this is another figure of speech. What is it that holds up the heavens? Well, that was a figurative speech that they used describing the highest mountains. And so here the mountains, the highest mountains, those that hold up the very heavens, it's just a figure of speech and they know that, but those great mountains at times tremble and are astonished at his reproof. Do the mountains tremble? They sure do. Volcanoes cause great earthquakes and even the highest mountains feel earthquakes and they tremble at his reproof when he speaks and when he wills it. He's thinking of the creation, the power of God, holding, making, holding, and controlling creation. In verse 12, he divides the sea with his power, and by his understanding, he smiteth through the proud. Well, this is speaking of the ocean, the waves, and he divides, in other words, he agitates, he stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding, he smites. The proud, in other words, those great waves, suddenly cease and calm. He can stir up, or he can calm. I've seen, in Oregon, waves that, I know they exceed, exceeded 100 feet, probably, at one time I saw, coming over the dunes there at the coast. And I have been in Veracruz. I went out to the beach early one morning, and I was totally shocked to see that those waves that you always see coming in and rippling and so forth, it was moving that much. The Gulf of Mexico looked like a sheet of glass. Never ever seen that before. But he is the one who stirs it up, or smites the proud, calms it. And then, in verse 13, by his spirit he hath garnished, he has adorned the heavens. He's looking up again, and he's looking at the stars. All the peoples, tribes, studied the stars. And they knew an awful lot about the stars, and they many times worshipped the stars, didn't they? Well, he says God's the one who garnished them. He scattered them across the skies and gave them their beauty. He adorned them. You know, they even named the constellations. Look with me over at chapter 38 and verses 31 to 33. Here, God himself is speaking to Job and he says, 38 verses 31 to 33, he says, Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? You notice here the names of these constellations, and you know we still use part of these. I know Pleiades and Orion. I'm not sure about Maseroth and Arcturus, maybe so, and I just don't know enough about the constellations. But you see how anciently these constellations were named? This was many thousands of years ago, and they studied the heavens, and God's asking, can you control the stars and their movement across the skies? Well, Job says, yeah, all those stars, the constellations that we look up and see in the heavens, God's the one who garnished, adorned, who set those in the skies. And that's important to see that he is speaking about constellations because You get to the next part of the verse. His hand hath formed the crooked serpent. His hand hath formed the crooked serpent. Here he is speaking of constellations. There are two constellations in the heavens that are a serpent. One in the north, the dragon of the north, and it is a crooked, many turns, constellation in the sky. His hand hath formed the crooked serpent. There's another one called Serpent's Kaput and Serpent's Kauda. It's a two-part divided one with another one in the middle. And that word, sometimes when it says formed, sometimes means to wound or to divide in two parts. So he could be referring to that one. but he's garnished the heavens, all the constellations that are there in the heavens. So we're speaking here of the mighty acts of God, the power that it took to create all of creation, and the wisdom that it took for all of creation. Now we look at those things ourselves. Turn with me over to Psalm 139 verse six. We look at these attributes, the omniscience of God, the omnipotence of God, the omnipresence of God. We look at creation and the wisdom and power required to make those very things and we look at that and we are totally awed if we seriously think upon it. We are amazed if we think upon it. David looked at these very same things and he tells us what he thought about that He said such knowledge is too wonderful for me. This is too much It is high it's above me. It's over my head. I Cannot attain to it. I don't understand it. I cannot comprehend it. It's over my head and it is Wonderful, and it is too wonderful for this shepherd David says That's our reaction. We look at all of the glorious attributes of God, and we look at the wisdom and the power of God in doing these things, and we are amazed. I cannot attain unto it. Go back to Job. Job has something to say about all of this. He says, these things that just blow us away that amazeth so, he says, lo, these are parts of his ways. Let me tell you something about this word parts. Now part is not the whole thing, is it? It's just a portion of something. This is translated quite a number of different ways, different forms of the word, but let me give you a list here, and I want you to think about what is the common denominator between all of these. If you use it in a specific context, it'll be translated a certain way, but there is a common denominator here that ties all of these together. Coast. Corner. Edge. Part. uttermost part, border, brim, brink, end, frontier, outside, shore, side. Did you pick a common denominator between all of these words? Not any of these words referred to the whole thing. They referred to the coast, the corner, the edge, the uttermost part, the border, the brim, the brink, the end, the frontier. In other words, you're looking at the surface. You're looking at the outside visible part, not the heart of it, not the fullness of it, not the content of it. He says, these things that blow us away, His omniscience, His omnipotence, His omnipresence, the might and power of all of creation. He says, that's just the littlest part of what God is. These are but parts of His ways. And then He says this, but how little a portion is heard of Him. How little, that word little means a small sound. Now we can think of a chirp when we think of a small sound, right? But how little a portion, this is something that is communicated. And so a little portion is actually a whisper. He says all of this, It's only a whisper of God. He's beyond us. And then he makes this comment, but the thunder of his power, who can understand? Oh. All we've heard is a whisper. We've only seen the surface. All these things that amaze us. It's beyond us. The thunder of His power. This is not talking about that pleasant rumbling up in the clouds. This is talking about that thunderclap that makes you jump right out of your skin. The thunder of His power. Who can understand? What's the thunder of his power? Well, you know, in Exodus 33, Moses has said, let me see your glory. And God said, you can't see my glory. No man can see my glory and live. His glory will be displayed one day for those who are saved by grace. Boy, that'll be the thunder. thunder of his voice as he begins to reveal the fullness of us when we have that resurrected body which is suited for the presence of the divine God of heaven and for a heavenly place a body suited to that and when we can then begin to see the glory of God that'll be the thunder of his voice or it could be referred to the thunder of his wrath oh my The thunder of his power, who can understand the thunder of his wrath? Who can stand in the day of his wrath? None. O sinner, do not laugh at the day of judgment. You think you know something little about God now and that all he's overlooking, he doesn't really care. Yes, he cares. And one day there will be the thunder of his voice, his power at the judgment in wrath. and condemnation. I would call upon sinners. Jesus has taken the sin of his people upon himself and carried it to Calvary's cross. He's died to save sinners. And he calls us, come. Come in repentance, come in faith, and you'll not be turned away. Come, trusting Christ. And if you do not do that, you will hear the thunder of His wrath. And that's beyond our comprehension. We haven't begun to imagine. But we shall all know something more of it one day. Let's stand together for prayer.